Customized Navigation Flow

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems as described herein may enable customized navigation flow for websites/applications. Navigation flows (e.g., the pages, user interfaces, views, etc. that are displayed to a user) may be customized for each user. Navigation parameters may be generated for a user and may indicate a customized navigation flow for the user. The navigation parameters may indicate one or more pages of a website/application and an order that each of the one or more pages should be displayed to the user. The navigation parameters may indicate a trigger for each page. A trigger may indicate an action and/or event that causes a change in display to the next page in the navigation flow. Navigation parameters may be shared between devices, which may enable the user to experience the same navigation flow across multiple websites/applications.

FIELD OF USE

Aspects of the disclosure relate generally to managing software and morespecifically to managing navigation of websites or other softwareapplications.

BACKGROUND

Websites and/or applications may have navigation experiences that arestatic and/or hard coded. Each time a user accesses a website and/orapplication, the user may be presented with the same set of pages and/orscreens in the same order. The user may need to navigate throughmultiple pages and/or screens to access a page and/or screen that theywere seeking. The static and/or hard coded navigation experiences may betime-consuming and may lead to a poor experience for the user.Additionally, due to the static and/or hard coded nature of thenavigation experiences, modifying the software code that contains thenavigation experiences can also be tedious and time-consuming for thesoftware engineer.

Aspects described herein may address these and other problems, andgenerally improve user interactions with websites and/or applications bygenerating dynamic navigation experiences.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary of various aspects describedherein. This summary is not an extensive overview, and is not intendedto identify key or critical elements or to delineate the scope of theclaims. The following summary merely presents some concepts in asimplified form as an introductory prelude to the more detaileddescription provided below. Corresponding apparatus, systems, andcomputer-readable media are also within the scope of the disclosure.

Navigation flows (e.g., the pages, user interfaces, views, etc. that aredisplayed to a user) may be customized for each user. Navigationparameters may be generated for a user and may indicate a customizednavigation flow for the user. The navigation parameters may indicate oneor more pages of a website/application and an order that each of the oneor more pages should be displayed to the user. The navigation parametersmay indicate a trigger for each page. A trigger may indicate an actionand/or event that causes a change in display to the next page in thenavigation flow. Navigation parameters may be shared between devices,which may enable the user to experience the same navigation flow acrossmultiple websites/applications.

These features, along with many others, are discussed in greater detailbelow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure is described by way of example and not limited inthe accompanying figures in which like reference numerals indicatesimilar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 shows an example of a control processing system in which one ormore aspects described herein may be implemented;

FIG. 2 shows an example computing device in accordance with one or moreaspects described herein;

FIG. 3 shows a flow chart of an example process for customizingnavigation flows according to one or more aspects of the disclosure;

FIGS. 4A-4C show example user interfaces for customizing navigation flowaccording to one or more aspects of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 shows example codes for sharing navigation flows according to oneor more aspects of the disclosure;

FIG. 6 shows a flow chart of an example process for sharing a customizednavigation flow according to one or more aspects of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description of the various embodiments, reference ismade to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and inwhich is shown by way of illustration various embodiments in whichaspects of the disclosure may be practiced. It is to be understood thatother embodiments may be utilized and structural and functionalmodifications may be made without departing from the scope of thepresent disclosure. Aspects of the disclosure are capable of otherembodiments and of being practiced or being carried out in various ways.In addition, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminologyused herein are for the purpose of description and should not beregarded as limiting. Rather, the phrases and terms used herein are tobe given their broadest interpretation and meaning.

By way of introduction, aspects discussed herein may relate to methodsand techniques for customizing a navigation flow of an application or awebsite. As noted, above, websites and/or applications may havenavigation experiences that are static. Accordingly, a user may bepresented with the same set of pages and/or screens in the same ordereach time the user accesses a website and/or application. In thisregard, the user may need to click through a series of pages and/orscreens to obtain the page and/or screen that they were looking for.Additionally, current coding techniques prevent generating dynamic flowssince developers may have to code each link manually.

Systems as described herein may enable customization of navigationflows, for example, based on user preferences and/or the user's browsinghabits. Navigation flows (e.g., the pages, user interfaces, views, etc.that are displayed to a user) may be customized for each user. Togenerate the customized navigation flows, navigation parameters may begenerated for a user. The navigation parameters may be based on a user'spreferences and/or browsing habits and may indicate the user's preferrednavigation flow. For example, the navigation parameters may indicate oneor more pages of a website and/or application that a user visitsfrequently and/or spends a significant amount of time browsing.Additionally, the navigation parameters may define an order that each ofthe one or more pages should be displayed to the user, for example,based on the order with which the user navigates the website and/orapplication. In some instance, the navigation parameters may define atrigger for each page. The trigger may indicate an action and/or eventthat causes a change in display to the next page in the navigation flow.According to some examples, the navigation parameters may be ported(e.g., shared) between devices (e.g., through the use of codes thatassist in identifying pages in one website/application that are similarto another website/application), which may enable the user to experiencethe same navigation flow across multiple, industry-related websitesand/or applications.

Generating a navigation flow according to navigation parameters mayimprove user experience because it allows the navigation flow to becustomized for each user. The navigation parameters may be adjusted by adevice based on how the user interacts with one or more pages of awebsite/application. This may enable the user to experience a navigationflow that is optimized for the user's needs. It may also eliminate theneed for static and/or hardcoded websites/applications and may reducethe work needed (e.g., from software engineers) to modify navigationflows of websites/applications. Codes for sharing the navigationparameters provide a technological solution to enable the user'scustomized flow to follow them as they use differentwebsites/applications, for example, in the same industry (e.g., banking,online retail, video streaming, etc.).

Turning to FIG. 1, a system 100 is shown that includes a first userdevice 110, a second user device 120, and a server 130, connected to afirst database 140, interconnected via network 150. The system mayinclude one or more additional servers (e.g., a server 160).

First user device 110 may be a mobile device, such as a cellular phone,a mobile phone, a smart phone, a tablet, or a laptop. First user device110 may provide a first user with access to various applications andservices. For example, first user device 110 may provide the first userwith access to the Internet. Additionally, first user device 110 mayprovide the first user with one or more applications (“apps”) locatedthereon. The one or more applications may provide the first user with aplurality of tools and access to a variety of services. In someembodiments, the one or more applications may include a bankingapplication that provides access to the first user's bankinginformation, as well as perform routine banking functions, such aschecking the first user's balance, paying bills, transferring moneybetween accounts, withdrawing money from an automated teller machine(ATM), wire transfers, etc. In other embodiments, the one or moreapplications may be a digital, or electronic, wallet that is part of apayment service.

Second user device 120 may be a computing device configured to allow auser to execute software for a variety of purposes. Second user device120 may belong to the first user that accesses first user device 110,or, alternatively, second user device 120 may belong to a second user,different from the first user. Second user device 120 may be a desktopcomputer, laptop computer, or, alternatively, a virtual computer. Thesoftware of second user device 120 may include one or more web browsersthat provide access to websites on the Internet. These websites mayinclude banking websites that allow the user to access his/her bankinginformation and perform routine banking functions. In some embodiments,second user device 120 may include a banking application that allows theuser to access his/her banking information and perform routine bankingfunctions.

Server 130 may be any server capable of executing banking application132. Additionally, server 130 may be communicatively coupled to firstdatabase 140. In this regard, server 130 may be a stand-alone server, acorporate server, or a server located in a server farm or cloud-computerenvironment. According to some examples, server 130 may be a virtualserver hosted on hardware capable of supporting a plurality of virtualservers.

Banking application 132 may be server-based software configured toprovide users with access to their account information and performroutine banking functions. In some embodiments, banking application 132may be the server-based software that corresponds to the client-basedsoftware executing on first user device 110 and second user device 120.Additionally, or alternatively, banking application 132 may provideusers access to their account information through a website accessed byfirst user device 110 or second user device 120 via network 150. Whileapplication 132 has been described in the context of a bankingapplication, it will be appreciated that application 132 may be anyapplication capable of facilitating an electronic transaction between afirst party and a second party. For example, application 132 may be awire transfer service, a payment service (e.g., Venmo®), an escrowservice, or the like. Aspects described herein may enable a user tocustomize a navigation flow for the banking application (e.g., forfacilitating the electronic transaction between the first party and thesecond party) and/or a digital, or electronic, wallet. Similarly, theelectronic transaction may include wire transfers, as well as bill pay,escrow transactions, cryptocurrency transfers, cryptocurrency exchanges,money transfers, and the like. In this regard, server 130 and bankingapplication 132 may be a trusted third party to facilitate the transferof assets and, if necessary, hold the assets in escrow. Assets mayinclude money, cryptocurrency, stocks, options, bonds, mutual funds,ETFs, or anything with an economic value.

First database 140 may be configured to store information on behalf ofapplication 132. The information may include, but is not limited to,personal information, account information, and user-preferences.Personal information may include a user's name, address, phone number(e.g., mobile number, home number, business number, etc.), socialsecurity number, username, password, employment information, familyinformation, and any other information that may be used to identify thefirst user. Account information may include account balances, bill payinformation, direct deposit information, wire transfer information,statements, and the like. User-preferences may define how users receivenotifications and alerts, spending notifications, and the like. Firstdatabase 140 may include, but are not limited to relational databases,hierarchical databases, distributed databases, in-memory databases, flatfile databases, XML databases, NoSQL databases, graph databases, and/ora combination thereof. The server 160 may comprise any of the componentsand/or be configured to perform any of the functions described above inconnection with the server 130. The banking application 162 may beconfigured to perform any of the functions described above in connectionwith the banking application 132. Server 160 may be managed by the sameentity as server 130. Additionally or alternatively, server 160 and/orbanking application 162 may be managed by a different entity than server130.

First network 150 may include any type of network. In this regard, firstnetwork 150 may include the Internet, a local area network (LAN), a widearea network (WAN), a wireless telecommunications network, and/or anyother communication network or combination thereof. It will beappreciated that the network connections shown are illustrative and anymeans of establishing a communications link between the computers may beused. The existence of any of various network protocols such as TCP/IP,Ethernet, FTP, HTTP and the like, and of various wireless communicationtechnologies such as GSM, CDMA, WiFi, and LTE, is presumed, and thevarious computing devices described herein may be configured tocommunicate using any of these network protocols or technologies. Thedata transferred to and from various computing devices in system 100 mayinclude secure and sensitive data, such as confidential documents,customer personally identifiable information, and account data.Therefore, it may be desirable to protect transmissions of such datausing secure network protocols and encryption, and/or to protect theintegrity of the data when stored on the various computing devices. Forexample, a file-based integration scheme or a service-based integrationscheme may be utilized for transmitting data between the variouscomputing devices. Data may be transmitted using various networkcommunication protocols. Secure data transmission protocols and/orencryption may be used in file transfers to protect the integrity of thedata, for example, File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Secure File TransferProtocol (SFTP), and/or Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) encryption. In manyembodiments, one or more web services may be implemented within thevarious computing devices. Web services may be accessed by authorizedexternal devices and users to support input, extraction, andmanipulation of data between the various computing devices in the system100. Web services built to support a personalized display system may becross-domain and/or cross-platform, and may be built for enterprise use.Data may be transmitted using the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) orTransport Layer Security (TLS) protocol to provide secure connectionsbetween the computing devices. Web services may be implemented using theWS-Security standard, providing for secure SOAP messages using XMLencryption. Specialized hardware may be used to provide secure webservices. For example, secure network appliances may include built-infeatures such as hardware-accelerated SSL and HTTPS, WS-Security, and/orfirewalls. Such specialized hardware may be installed and configured insystem 100 in front of one or more computing devices such that anyexternal devices may communicate directly with the specialized hardware.

Any of the devices and systems described herein may be implemented, inwhole or in part, using one or more computing systems described withrespect to FIG. 2. Turning now to FIG. 2, a computing device 200 thatmay be used with one or more of the computational systems is described.The computing device 200 may include a processor 203 for controllingoverall operation of the computing device 200 and its associatedcomponents, including RAM 205, ROM 207, input/output device 209,accelerometer 211, global-position system antenna 213, memory 215,and/or communication interface 223. A data bus may interconnectprocessor(s) 203, RAM 205, ROM 207, memory 215, I/O device 209,accelerometer 211, global-position system receiver/antenna 213, memory215, and/or communication interface 223. In some embodiments, computingdevice 200 may represent, be incorporated in, and/or include variousdevices such as a desktop computer, a computer server, a mobile device,such as a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a smart phone, any othertypes of mobile computing devices, and the like, and/or any other typeof data processing device.

Input/output (I/O) device 209 may include a microphone, keypad, touchscreen, and/or stylus through which a user of the computing device 200may provide input, and may also include one or more of a speaker forproviding audio output and a video display device for providing textual,audiovisual, and/or graphical output. Software may be stored withinmemory 215 to provide instructions to processor 203 allowing computingdevice 200 to perform various actions. For example, memory 215 may storesoftware used by the computing device 200, such as an operating system217, application programs 219, and/or an associated internal database221. The various hardware memory units in memory 215 may includevolatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implementedin any method or technology for storage of information such ascomputer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, orother data. Memory 215 may include one or more physical persistentmemory devices and/or one or more non-persistent memory devices. Memory215 may include, but is not limited to, random access memory (RAM) 205,read only memory (ROM) 207, electronically erasable programmable readonly memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, opticaldisk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storageor other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that may be usedto store the desired information and that may be accessed by processor203.

Accelerometer 211 may be a sensor configured to measure acceleratingforces of computing device 200. Accelerometer 211 may be anelectromechanical device. Accelerometer may be used to measure thetilting motion and/or orientation computing device 200, movement ofcomputing device 200, and/or vibrations of computing device 200. Theacceleration forces may be transmitted to the processor to process theacceleration forces and determine the state of computing device 200.

GPS receiver/antenna 213 may be configured to receive one or moresignals from one or more global positioning satellites to determine ageographic location of computing device 200. The geographic locationprovided by GPS receiver/antenna 213 may be used for navigation,tracking, and positioning applications. In this regard, the geographicmay also include places and routes frequented by the first user. In thecontext of a banking application, GPS receiver/antenna 213 may be usedto locate one or more banking locations.

Communication interface 223 may include one or more transceivers,digital signal processors, and/or additional circuitry and software forcommunicating via any network, wired or wireless, using any protocol asdescribed herein.

Processor 203 may include a single central processing unit (CPU), whichmay be a single-core or multi-core processor, or may include multipleCPUs. Processor(s) 203 and associated components may allow the computingdevice 200 to execute a series of computer-readable instructions toperform some or all of the processes described herein. Although notshown in FIG. 2, various elements within memory 215 or other componentsin computing device 200, may include one or more caches, for example,CPU caches used by the processor 203, page caches used by the operatingsystem 217, disk caches of a hard drive, and/or database caches used tocache content from database 221. For embodiments including a CPU cache,the CPU cache may be used by one or more processors 203 to reduce memorylatency and access time. A processor 203 may retrieve data from or writedata to the CPU cache rather than reading/writing to memory 215, whichmay improve the speed of these operations. In some examples, a databasecache may be created in which certain data from a database 221 is cachedin a separate smaller database in a memory separate from the database,such as in RAM 205 or on a separate computing device. For instance, in amulti-tiered application, a database cache on an application server mayreduce data retrieval and data manipulation time by not needing tocommunicate over a network with a back-end database server. These typesof caches and others may be included in various embodiments, and mayprovide potential advantages in certain implementations of devices,systems, and methods described herein, such as faster response times andless dependence on network conditions when transmitting and receivingdata.

Although various components of computing device 200 are describedseparately, functionality of the various components may be combinedand/or performed by a single component and/or multiple computing devicesin communication with each other.

A server, or a service offered by a server, may allow a user tocustomize their use of a website or other software application (e.g.,browsing experience), for example, based on user preferences and/or theuser's browsing habits. FIG. 3 shows an example method for customizing anavigation flow associated with use of a website/application (e.g., abrowsing experience). The example method may be performed using anydevice or component described in connection with FIGS. 1-2. Although oneor more steps of FIG. 3 are described for convenience as being performedby the server 130 and/or the first user device 110, one, some, or all ofsuch steps may be performed by the second user device 120, the computingdevice 200, or one or more other computing devices, and steps may bedistributed among one or more computing devices, including any computingdevices such as those described in connection with FIGS. 1-2. One ormore steps of FIG. 3 may be rearranged, modified, repeated, and/oromitted.

At step 305, the server 130 may receive a request to login from thefirst user device 110. The request to login may include one or morecredentials of a user. For example, a user of the first user device 110may input a username and password at the first user device 110. Therequest to login may comprise one or more biometric samples (e.g.,facial image, fingerprint scan, voiceprint, etc.), one or more one-timepasswords, one or more tokens, or any other information suitable forauthentication. The first user device 110 may send the username andpassword for authentication by the server 130. In response to receivingthe one or more credentials, the server (e.g., server 130) may verifythe one or more credentials provided by the user. When the one or morecredentials are invalid, server 130 may deny the login request. However,when the one or more credentials are valid (e.g., match previouslystored credentials), the method may authenticate the first user deviceand proceed to step 307.

At step 310, the server 130 may cause display a first navigation flow tobe displayed on the first user device 110. A navigation flow maycomprise one or more pages (e.g., web pages, user interfaces, views(e.g., of a software application), or other computer-generated output)presented (e.g., outputted, displayed) in a particular order. Anavigation flow may comprise a path (e.g., a series of pages) that auser encounters as the user performs one or more actions. For example, anavigation flow for purchasing a product may comprise a first page thatshows the product, a second page that enables the user to enterinformation (e.g., payment, shipping, or other information), and a thirdpage that indicates confirmation of the purchase. A navigation flow maycomprise one or more pages for any type of action a user may performusing a computing device (e.g., the first user device 110). For example,a navigation flow may include one or more user interfaces for onlineshopping, social media, banking, news, sports, surveys, etc. Anavigation flow may comprise a series of pages for filling out a report.A navigation flow may comprise the order that questions are displayed ina survey. The navigation flow displayed in step 307 may comprise adefault navigation flow. For example, the server 130 may cause displayof a default landing page of a website. The default navigation flow maybe shown to the user, for example, if the user is not associated with acustomized navigation flow.

At step 315, the first user device 110 and/or the server 130 may monitorthe user's activity and/or interactions with the navigation flowdisplayed in step 310. The user's activity may be monitored to assist indetermining a customized navigation flow for the user. The first userdevice 110 and/or the server 130 may monitor what pages are accessedand/or the actions (e.g., clicks, keyboard entries, or other input) theuser makes on each page (e.g., how the user interacts with each page).For example, the first user device 110 and/or the server 130 may monitorhow much time the user spends on each page. The server 130 may trackeach page that is requested by the first user device 110. For example,the server 130 may store a record indicating what pages were requestedby the first user device, the order in which the pages were requested orviewed, and/or the time that the pages were requested. The first userdevice 110 may send, to the server 130, metrics for each page indicatingthe actions taken by the user on each page. The metrics may comprise aquantity of time the user spent on a page, user interactions with eachpage, the quantity of actions taken on each page, the order each pagewas accessed, how much time was spent on each page, etc. The first userdevice 110 and/or server 130 may monitor how the user transitions awayfrom each page.

At step 320, the server 130 may determine whether to generate and/ormodify navigation parameters (e.g., based on the activity monitored instep 315). Navigation parameters may be used to determine a navigationflow. Navigation parameters may indicate one or more pages of anavigation flow. Navigation parameters may indicate an order in whichthe one or more pages should be displayed. Navigation parameters mayindicate an affiliation with an industry. The affiliation may enable twoor more devices to share navigation parameters. For example, a firstdevice in the banking industry may determine that navigation parametersindicating an affiliation with the banking industry may be shared with asecond device in the banking industry. Navigation parameters maycomprise a data structure (e.g., a list, a map, array, etc.) indicatingan order for a plurality of pages. Each item (e.g., class, object, etc.)in the data structure may correspond to a page. For example, each itemin the data structure may comprise an identifier (e.g., a link, auniform resource locator, a file path, etc.) of a page. The identifiermay enable the server 130 to determine which page to send to the firstuser device 110 at each transition in a navigation flow. Additionally oralternatively, each item in the data structure may comprise a trigger. Atrigger may indicate an action and/or an event that may cause the nextpage in the navigation flow to be displayed. For example, a trigger maycomprise clicking or tapping a user interface element (e.g., a button, amenu item, or any other element), scrolling past a point in a page,loading a page, downloading a document or any other action/event.

Additionally or alternatively, each item in the data structure maycomprise a code that represents a corresponding page or page type. Forexample, as shown in FIG. 5, 0x38 may represent a page that comprises ashopping cart for online shopping. A code may enable the server 130 toshare navigation parameters with a second server. The second server mayuse the code to determine a page associated with a website/applicationof the second server. This may enable a user's preferred navigation flowto persist across multiple websites/applications (e.g., multipleapplications of the same type, multiple banking applications, etc.).Codes corresponding to pages or page types are explained in furtherdetail below in connection with FIG. 5. The navigation parameters may bestored in database 140 and may be linked to a user (e.g., the userdiscussed in connection with step 305).

The server 130 may determine to generate and/or modify navigationparameters, for example, if input from the user indicates thatnavigation parameters should be generated/modified. For example, a usermay indicate (e.g., via input entered through the first user device 110)one or more pages and an order of the one or more pages (e.g., asdiscussed in more detail below in connection with FIGS. 4A-4C).Additionally, the user may indicate a trigger (e.g., for each page) thatcauses the next page in the navigation flow to be displayed.

The server 130 may determine to generate/modify navigation parameters,for example, if a quantity of interactions a user has with a pagesatisfies a threshold. As described above in connection with step 315,the first user device 110 may record interactions (e.g., clicks on amouse, keyboard key pushes, etc.) with one or more pages and may sendinformation indicating the interactions and/or the quantity ofinteractions to the server 130. The server may determine that a pageshould be added to the navigation parameters, for example, if a quantity(e.g., 2, 3, 10, etc.) of interactions with the page satisfy athreshold. The server 130 may remove a page from the navigationparameters, for example, if the quantity of interactions with the pagefails to satisfy the threshold.

The server 130 may determine to generate and/or modify the navigationparameters, for example, based on a quantity of time a user spendsviewing a page. For example, the first user device 110 may record thequantity of time a user spends on a page and may send informationcomprising the quantity of time and the associated page to the server130. The server 130 may determine that the navigation parameters may begenerated/modified, for example, if the quantity of time (e.g., 2minutes, 5 minutes, etc.) spent on a page satisfies a threshold. Forexample, the server 130 may add a page to the navigation parameters ifthe quantity of time spent on the page satisfies the threshold. Theserver 130 may remove a page from the navigation parameters, forexample, if the quantity of time spent on a page fails to satisfy athreshold.

The server 130 may determine whether to generate/modify navigationparameters, for example, in response to a user request to generate acustom navigation flow. For example the server 130 may receive one ormore user inputs regarding a user's navigation flow preferences (e.g.,the inputs may indicate what pages to include in the navigation flow,the order of the pages, the triggers for changing between pages, etc.).Additionally or alternatively, the server 130 may determine togenerate/modify navigation parameters to improve user experience bygenerating the custom navigation flow (e.g., if the user is notassociated with navigation parameters or the user's interactions withone or more pages differ from the user's navigation parameters), forexample, based on the user's browsing habits. If the server 130determines that navigation parameters do not need to begenerated/modified, step 315 may be repeated. Otherwise, the method mayproceed to step 325.

At step 325, the server 130 may generate and/or modify navigationparameters based on the user's activity monitored in step 315. Theserver 130 may generate a data structure comprising the navigationparameters, for example, if there are no navigation parametersassociated with the user. The server 130 may modify the data structure,for example, if navigation parameters already exist for the user. Theserver 130 may modify the navigation parameters based on input receivedfrom the first user device 110. The user may send input via the firstuser device 110 indicating a modification of the navigation parameters.The input may indicate a change in the order of the pages to bedisplayed in the navigation flow. The input may indicate a page to addto the navigation flow and/or a page to be removed from the navigationflow.

The server 130 may modify the navigation parameters based on a quantityof time and/or quantity of interactions associated with the user'sactivity on each page. Additionally or alternatively, the server 130 maydetermine a trigger for each page indicated by the navigationparameters. For example, the trigger may comprise an action performed bya user before the user causes a transition to another page. For example,the trigger may comprise an interaction with a submit button, a link, ascroll, or any other action performed by the user. For example, if auser submits a bill payment, and then clicks a link to return to anaccount summary, the server 130 may determine that the bill pay pageshould be the first page in the navigation parameters and the accountsummary page should be the second page in the navigation parameters. Theserver 130 may determine that the trigger (e.g., for switching from thebill pay page to the account summary page) should be the user'sinteraction with a submit button on the bill pay page.

The navigation parameters may be used by the server 130 to generate acustomized landing page for the associated user. The customized landingpage may be a page that comprises user interface elements (e.g.,buttons, links, etc.) corresponding to each page indicated by the datastructure. For example, the server 130 may generate a customized landingpage for a user of the banking application 132. The navigationparameters may indicate that the user most frequently uses a checking &savings page and a credit cards page. For example, the server maydetermine that the pages where the user spends more than a thresholdamount of time (e.g., 5 minutes, 10 minutes, etc.) are the checking &savings page and the credit cards page. For example, the server maydetermine that the only pages where the user performs more than athreshold quantity of interactions (e.g., 3 clicks and/or 10 keyboardinputs, etc.) are the checking & savings page and the credit cards page.Based on the determination, the server may generate a customized landingpage comprising user interface elements corresponding to the checking &savings page and/or the credit cards page.

At step 330, the server 130 may determine codes for the navigationparameters generated in step 325. The codes may allow the navigationparameters to be shared with other computing devices (e.g., servers)and/or services so a user's preferred navigation flow may be maintainedacross multiple applications, websites, and/or other software. The codesmay allow a computing device to determine a page of a first service thatcorresponds to a similar page of a second service. For example, a firstbank may provide a first banking website. A first server of the firstbank may generate navigation parameters for a user of the first bankingwebsite. The navigation parameters may indicate that the user prefers tostart with a bill pay page after logging in. The first server maygenerate codes for the navigation parameters and may send the codesand/or navigation parameters to a second server (e.g., associated with asecond bank) that offers a second banking website (e.g., the user mayhave an account associated with both the first banking website and thesecond banking website). The second server may use the codes to follow anavigation flow that is used by the first server. For example, thesecond server may determine, based on the codes, that a bill pay pageassociated with a website/application of the second server should bedisplayed first in a navigation flow for the user. The server 130 maydetermine codes for navigation parameters (e.g., for each page indicatedby the navigation parameters) based on a table (e.g., the example tableshown in FIG. 5 and discussed in more detail below) that indicates codesfor each page indicated by the navigation parameters.

At step 335, the server 130 may store the navigation parameters (e.g.,generated in step 325) and/or the associated codes determined in step335 in memory, such as database 140. At step 340, the server 130 maydetect the next login of the user that initiated the login in step 305.For example, the server 130 may receive an additional request to loginfrom the first user device 110. Alternatively, the server 130 may detectthat the user has refreshed the page (e.g., a page of a website, a pageof an application, etc.).

At step 345, the server 130 may retrieve navigation parameters, forexample, based on the login and/or refresh detected in step 340. Theserver 130 may retrieve the navigation parameters from the database 140using the login information (e.g., username) and/or other useridentifiers to perform a query on the database 140. The server 130 mayuse the navigation parameters to determine a page for output aftersuccessful authentication (e.g., log in) of the user and/or after theuser refreshes the page. For example, the first page shown to a userafter successful login may be the first page indicated in the navigationparameters. Alternatively, server 130 may generate a customized webpagethat rearranges the links based on the navigation parameters associatedwith a user. For example, a link for a first page that the user accessfrequently may be displayed prominently (e.g., at the top) of a landingpage.

At step 350, the server 130 may cause display of a navigation flow thatis customized for the user. After sending the first page in thenavigation flow (e.g., as indicated by the navigation parameters), theserver 130 may detect the trigger corresponding to the first page. Afterdetecting the trigger, the server 130 may send the second page in thenavigation flow. This process may continue until each page in thenavigation flow has been displayed to the user. For example, the firstserver 130 may iterate over a data structure comprising the navigationparameters. The first server 130 may determine an identifier or locationfor each page indicated in the data structure. The first server 130 mayretrieve (e.g., from the database 140), based on the identifier orlocation, each page indicated by the navigation parameters and may sendeach page to the first user device 110. According to aspects describedherein, the server 130 may be able to provide a service that allowsusers to generate a customized navigation flow based on the user'sindicated preferences and/or actual browsing preferences. This providesa better user experience because it allows a user to navigate to thepages that the user is interested in using more quickly (e.g., with lessclicks, taps, or other user input). It also may provide a better userexperience because the user may not need to remember the locations oflinks or other user interface elements (e.g., the triggers allow thenavigation flow to progress to the next page of interest for the user).Additionally or alternatively, the portability of the navigationparameters provides a technological solution to enable the user'scustomized flow to follow them as they navigate across differentwebsites/applications in the same industry (e.g., banking, onlineretail, etc.).

FIGS. 4A-4C show example pages for which navigation flow may becustomized. Although a banking website/application is shown in FIGS.4A-4C, aspects described herein may be used in any type of website orsoftware application. FIG. 4A shows an example home page 400 for abanking website or application. The home page 400 may comprise links toenable a user access to other pages where the user can perform variousbanking functions. For example, the home page 400 may comprise achecking & savings link 406, a credit cards link 409, a bill pay link412, and/or an account settings link 415. The home page may comprise amanage navigation link 403, which may allow a user to modify one or morenavigation flows for the banking website/application (e.g., as discussedin more detail in connection with FIG. 4C below).

FIG. 4B shows an example bill pay page 401. The bill pay page 401 maycomprise an account field 424 (e.g., for specifying an account fromwhich money should be used in a payment), a recipient field 427 (e.g.,specifying an account to which money should be payed), and/or a submitbutton 430 for finalizing a payment. The bill pay page 401 may comprisethe manage navigation link 403. Based on an interaction with the managenavigation link 403, a user device (e.g., the first user device 110, thesecond user device 120, etc.) may display a user interface for managingnavigation flow (e.g., as shown in FIG. 4C).

FIG. 4C shows an example user interface (UI) 402 for managing anavigation flow. The UI 402 may comprise a table with columns showingthe order 433 of one or more pages. The table may indicate the pages 436in the navigation flow and triggers 439 that cause display of the nextpage in the navigation flow.

According to the example navigation flow shown in FIG. 4C, the server130 may cause display of the bill pay page 401 (e.g., by sending thebill pay page to the first user device 110). After the user submits apayment, the server 130 may cause display of a credit cards page. Afterthe user has downloaded the credit card transaction history, the server130 may cause display of a checking & savings page.

The UI 402 may comprise an add page element 442 that may enable to userto add one or more pages to the navigation flow. For example, the usermay add the account settings page corresponding to the account settingslink 415 to the navigation flow. The UI 402 may allow the user to changethe order of one or more pages in the navigation flow (e.g., by dragginga row in the table) and/or remove one or more pages from the navigationflow.

Codes may be used to share navigation flows between two or more devices.For example, a navigation flow for a first banking application may beshared so that the associated user can use the same navigation flow fora second banking application. FIG. 5 shows example codes for sharingnavigation flows between devices. Codes may be used to represent typesof pages and may enable sharing of navigation flows between similarwebsites/applications. For example, a first bank may share codes for anavigation flow of a user with a second bank so the user's navigationflow may be used with a website/application of the second bank.Navigation flows may be shared between many different types ofwebsites/applications. For example, navigation flows may be sharedbetween different social media applications, between different emailapplications, between different health care applications, betweendifferent video streaming applications, between different onlineretailers, etc. A code may be assigned to each type of page.

The server may use a table 500 (e.g., stored in the database 140) todetermine a code for a page. The table 500 may comprise a code column501 that stores codes for each page. The table 500 may comprise a pagetype column 502 that stores a description of the page type. For example,page types may comprise a shopping cart page type for online shoppingapplications, media genre page type (e.g., comedy, fantasy, horror,action, etc.) for video streaming applications, a home page type, aplayoff bracket page type for sports or electronic sports applications,etc. For example the code 0x43 may correspond to a page for comedymovies of a video streaming application. A navigation flow may indicatethat after logging in and/or authenticating a user, the comedy moviepage should be displayed first. The server 130 may convert thenavigation parameters into codes that can be shared with a second serverto provide navigation data for a second video streaming application. Ifthe user logs into the second video streaming application, the secondvideo streaming application may follow the navigation flow that isfollowed by the server 130 display a page for comedy movies first in thenavigation flow. The table may comprise an identifier column 503 thatstores a uniform resource locator (URL), file path, and/or otherlocation information for each page. The information stored in theidentifier column 503 may be used by the server 130 to determine thelocation of the page and/or retrieve the page from the database 140.Page codes may enable the navigation parameters to be portable and mayprovide a way for different websites/applications to map their pages tothe user's preferred navigation (e.g., browsing, usage, etc.)experience. The portability of the navigation parameters may provide atechnological solution to enable the user's customized flow to followthem as they navigate across different websites/applications, forexample, in the same industry (e.g., banking, online retail, etc.

As noted above, one of the benefits realized by the service thatgenerates the navigation parameters is that the data may be shared orported to other platforms. Accordingly, the user's customized browsingpreferences may follow the user through one or more sites that the uservisits. FIG. 6 shows an example method for sharing (e.g., porting) acustomized navigation flow. A first device (e.g., the server 160, or anyother device described in connection with FIGS. 1-2) may receivenavigation parameters for a navigation flow from a second device (e.g.,the server 130, or any other device described in connection with FIGS.1-2). The first device may modify the navigation parameters (e.g., basedon usage of a website/application by a user). The modified navigationparameters may be sent the modified navigation parameters to the seconddevice. For example, the first device may be associated with a firstbanking application and the second device may be associated with asecond banking application. By sharing navigation parameters between thefirst and second devices, a user may be able to experience the samenavigation flow for both banking applications. Although one or moresteps of FIG. 3 are described for convenience as being performed by afirst server and/or a second server, one, some, or all of such steps maybe performed by the server 130, the first user device 110, the seconduser device 120, the computing device 200, or one or more othercomputing devices, and steps may be distributed among one or morecomputing devices, including any computing devices such as thosedescribed in connection with FIGS. 1-2. One or more steps of FIG. 6 maybe rearranged, modified, repeated, and/or omitted.

At step 605, a user may be authenticated by the first device. Forexample, the first device may receive a request to log in (e.g., asexplained above in connection with step 305 of FIG. 3), or the firstdevice may authenticate a token received from the first user device 110.

At step 610, the first device may determine whether a user account(e.g., associated with the user authenticated in step 605) indicates acustom navigation flow for the user. For example, the user account maystore information indicating that the user is associated with a customnavigation flow. If the user account does not indicate a customnavigation flow, the method may proceed to step 612, where a defaultnavigation flow may be displayed to the user (e.g., thewebsite/application may display a home page, or other defaultinformation to the user). If the user account indicates a customnavigation flow, the method may proceed to step 615.

At step 615, the first device may send (e.g., transmit) a request fornavigation parameters to the second device. The request may comprise anidentifier (e.g., username, token, etc.) of the user that wasauthenticated in step 605. In some examples, the second device mayrequest authentication credentials from the first device. In step 617,the first device may send one or more authentication credentials to thesecond device. For example, the first device may send a token or otherinformation that allows the second device to authenticate the firstdevice (e.g., the token may be the same as or different from the tokendiscussed above in connection with step 605). In some examples, steps615 and 617 may be combined in a single step. For example, the firstdevice may send authentication credentials and the request for thenavigation parameters in the same communication. Upon successfulverification of the first device, the second device may retrievenavigation parameters (e.g., from the database 140) based on theidentifier, and send the navigation parameters to the first device, forexample, in step 620.

At step 625, the first device may determine one or more pagescorresponding to the navigation parameters received from the seconddevice. As note above with respect to FIGS. 3-5, the navigationparameters may comprise codes (e.g., as discussed above in connectionwith FIGS. 3-5) indicating a type of page. The first device maydetermine pages from a website/application (e.g., the bankingapplication 162) associated with the first device that corresponds tothe codes.

At step 630, the first device may determine an order of the one or morepages based on the navigation parameters (e.g., the navigationparameters may indicate an order as described above in connection withFIG. 3). At step 632, the first device may cause display of the one ormore pages in the order (e.g., the user's preferred order instead of adefault order) determined in step 635. The first device may cause thedisplay to change from a first page to a second page based on one ormore triggers indicated in the navigation parameters (e.g., as describedabove in connection with FIGS. 3-5).

At step 635, the first device may determine whether the navigationparameters requested in step 620 should be updated. For example, thefirst device may monitor the user's activity or interactions with thewebsite/application associated with the first device (e.g., as describedabove in connection with step 310 of FIG. 3). The first device maydetermine whether to modify the navigation parameters based on theuser's activity or interactions (e.g., as described above in connectionwith steps 310-320 of FIG. 3). At step 640, the first device may modifythe navigation parameters that were requested in step 620 (e.g., asdescribed above in connection with step 320).

At step 645, the first device may send the modified navigationparameters to the second device. At step 650, the second device maystore (e.g., in the database 140) the modified navigation parameters forfuture use. For example, the second device may use the modifiednavigation parameters to cause display of a navigation flow of awebsite/application associated with the second device. A user may beable to experience the same navigation flow across multiple differentwebsites/applications that are offered by different parties. Navigationparameters that are modified by one device may be shared with otherdevices so that the user does not need to modify the navigation flow ateach website/application separately. This may increase theuser-friendliness of one or more websites/applications and may lead to abetter experience for the user of the one or more websites/applications.

One or more aspects discussed herein may be embodied in computer-usableor readable data and/or computer-executable instructions, such as in oneor more program modules, executed by one or more computers or otherdevices as described herein. Generally, program modules includeroutines, programs, objects, components, data structures, and the like.that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract datatypes when executed by a processor in a computer or other device. Themodules may be written in a source code programming language that issubsequently compiled for execution, or may be written in a scriptinglanguage such as (but not limited to) HTML or XML. The computerexecutable instructions may be stored on a computer readable medium suchas a hard disk, optical disk, removable storage media, solid-statememory, RAM, and the like. As will be appreciated by one of skill in theart, the functionality of the program modules may be combined ordistributed as desired in various embodiments. In addition, thefunctionality may be embodied in whole or in part in firmware orhardware equivalents such as integrated circuits, field programmablegate arrays (FPGA), and the like. Particular data structures may be usedto more effectively implement one or more aspects discussed herein, andsuch data structures are contemplated within the scope of computerexecutable instructions and computer-usable data described herein.Various aspects discussed herein may be embodied as a method, acomputing device, a system, and/or a computer program product.

Although the present disclosure has been described in certain specificaspects, many additional modifications and variations would be apparentto those skilled in the art. In particular, any of the various processesdescribed above may be performed in alternative sequences and/or inparallel (on different computing devices) in order to achieve similarresults in a manner that is more appropriate to the requirements of aspecific application. It is therefore to be understood that the presentdisclosure may be practiced otherwise than specifically describedwithout departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure.Thus, embodiments of the present disclosure should be considered in allrespects as illustrative and not restrictive. Accordingly, the scope ofthe disclosure should be determined not by the embodiments illustrated,but by the appended claims and their equivalents.

1. A computer-implemented method for causing a customized navigationflow to be displayed for a user, the method comprising: receiving, by afirst device and from a user device, a first request to login to a firstwebsite, wherein the first request to login comprises one or morecredentials associated with a user, and wherein the first website isassociated with a first plurality of pages; receiving, from the userdevice, a request for a first navigation flow corresponding to the user,wherein the first navigation flow comprises a plurality of mappings;causing, based on verification of the one or more credentials, therequested first navigation flow to be displayed on the user device,wherein the first navigation flow indicates a display order for thefirst plurality of pages, and wherein the display order is defined bythe mappings; causing the user device to monitor an interaction betweenthe user device and a page indicated by the first navigation flow;receiving, from the user device and based on monitoring the interaction,a request, to update the mappings, wherein the updated mappings indicatea preferred order of output of the first plurality of pages; receiving,from the user device, a second request to login to the first website,wherein the second request to login comprises the one or morecredentials associated with the user; generating, based on the secondrequest to login and based on the updated mappings, a second navigationflow to be displayed on the user device, wherein the second navigationflow corresponds to the user and causes the first plurality of pages tobe displayed in the preferred order; sending, to the user device, thesecond navigation flow; receiving a third request to login to a secondwebsite, wherein the second website is associated with a secondplurality of pages; determining, based on the second navigation flow, athird navigation flow that causes the second plurality of pages to bedisplayed in the preferred order; and causing the third navigation flowto be included in at least one page that is displayed on the userdevice.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring the interactioncomprises monitoring at least one event trigger associated with a webpage that is displayed on the user device.
 3. The method of claim 1,further comprising: determining a first code associated with a firstpage of the first plurality of pages; determining a second codeassociated with a second page of the first plurality of pages, wherein:the second page is different from the first page; and the first code andthe second code are configured to permit a second device to cause thesecond navigation flow to be displayed for the user device.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: sending, to a second device andbased on a request from the second device, the updated mappings;receiving, from the second device, the updated mappings comprising asecond preferred order of the output of the first plurality of pages;and outputting, based on the updated mappings, the third navigationflow.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein a first page of the firstplurality of pages comprises a home page and a second page of the firstplurality of pages comprises a bill pay view.
 6. (canceled)
 7. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the causing the user device to monitor theinteraction between the user device and the page indicated by the firstnavigation flow comprises: causing the user device to determine aquantity of interactions the user has with the page indicated by thefirst navigation flow.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the causing theuser device to monitor the interaction between the user device and thepage indicated by the first navigation flow comprises: causing the userdevice to determine a quantity of time the user spends viewing the pageindicated by the first navigation flow.
 9. The method of claim 1,further comprising: determining, by the first device, the preferredorder of output of the first plurality of pages based on at least oneof: an order that the user accessed each page of the first plurality ofpages; a quantity of interactions the user has with each page of thefirst plurality of pages; or a quantity of time the user spends viewingeach page of the first plurality of pages.
 10. The method of claim 1further comprising: receiving one or more user inputs regarding a user'snavigation flow preferences, wherein the preferred order of output ofthe first plurality of pages is further based on the one or more userinputs regarding the user's navigation flow preferences.
 11. Acomputer-implemented method comprising: receiving, by a first device andfrom a user device, a first request to login to a first website, whereinthe first request to login comprises one or more credentials associatedwith a user, and wherein the first website is associated with a firstplurality of pages; receiving, from the user device a request for afirst navigation flow corresponding to the user, wherein the firstnavigation flow comprises a plurality of mappings; causing, based onverification of the one or more credentials, the first navigation flowto be displayed on the user device, wherein the first navigation flowindicates a display order for the first plurality of pages, and whereinthe display order is defined by the mappings; generating, based on anindication of navigation preferences received from the user device, oneor more navigation parameters, wherein the one or more navigationparameters indicate a preferred order of output of the first pluralityof pages; receiving, from the user device, a second request to login tothe first website, wherein the second request to login comprises the oneor more credentials associated with the user; generating, based on thesecond request to login and based on the one or more navigationparameters, a second navigation flow to be displayed on the user device;receiving, from the user device, a request for the second navigationflow; based on receiving the request for the second navigation flow,sending the second navigation flow to the user device; receiving a thirdrequest to login to a second website, wherein the second website isassociated with a second plurality of pages; determining, based on thesecond navigation flow, a third navigation flow that causes the secondplurality of pages to be displayed in the preferred order; and causingthe third navigation flow to be displayed on the user device in thepreferred order.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the indication ofnavigation preferences comprises the preferred order of output of thefirst plurality of pages.
 13. The method of claim 11, wherein thenavigation parameters comprise an affiliation with an industry, andwherein the third navigation flow is determined based on the affiliationwith the industry.
 14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:determining, based on the navigation parameters, a first code associatedwith a first page of the first plurality of pages; determining, based onthe navigation parameters, a second code associated with a second pageof the first plurality of pages, wherein: the second page is differentfrom the first page; and the first code and the second code areconfigured to permit a second device to cause the second navigation flowto be displayed on the user device.
 15. The method of claim 11, furthercomprising: sending, to a second device and based on a request from thesecond device, the one or more navigation parameters; receiving, fromthe second device, one or more modified navigation parameters comprisinga second preferred order of the output of the first plurality of pages;and outputting, based on the one or more modified navigation parameters,the third navigation flow.
 16. A computer-implemented method comprising:sending, by a first computing device and to a second computing device, arequest for one or more navigation parameters associated with apreferred navigation flow for a first website, wherein the preferrednavigation flow comprises a plurality of mappings; based on verificationof the first computing device, receiving the one or more navigationparameters; determining, based on the one or more navigation parameters,corresponding uniform resource locators (URLs) for a first plurality ofpages associated with the first website; determining, based on acorrespondence between the first plurality of pages and the one or morenavigation parameters, an order of output for the first plurality ofpages, wherein the correspondence between the first plurality of pagesand the one or more navigation parameters is indicated by the mappings;causing the first plurality of pages to be displayed on a user device inthe determined order; determining, based on the preferred navigationflow for a first website, an order of output for second plurality ofpages associated with a second website; and causing the second pluralityof pages to be displayed on the user device in the determined order ofoutput for the second plurality of pages.
 17. The method of claim 16,wherein the determining the first plurality of pages comprisesdetermining each of the first plurality of pages based on codesindicated in the one or more navigation parameters.
 18. The method ofclaim 16, further comprising: modifying, by the first computing deviceand based on user interaction with the first plurality of pages, thenavigation parameters; and sending, the modified navigation parametersto the second computing device.
 19. The method of claim 18, wherein themodifying the navigation parameters comprises: determining a first pageof the first plurality of pages, wherein the user interaction indicatesgreater than a threshold quantity of time interacting with the firstpage; and modifying the navigation parameters to indicate that the firstpage is first in the order of output for the first plurality of pages.20. The method of claim 16, further comprising: determining anadditional page where a quantity of interactions performed by a usersatisfies a threshold; and modifying the navigation parameters toindicate the additional page.
 21. The method of claim 1, wherein each ofthe mappings comprises a key and a corresponding link to one of aplurality of pages.